Health Care Technology Is a Promise Unfinanced

“Congress, in its infinite wisdom, zeroed-out David
Brailer’s office,” said Newt Gingrich, the Republican
former House speaker, who is the founder of the Center for
Health Transformation, a health policy group. “They
couldn’t find $50 million to signal that David Brailer has
a real job and what he’s doing is important. Frankly, I
think it’s a disgrace.”

The Bush administration, Mr. Gingrich said, bore most of
the responsibility. “No one in the White House or in the
senior staff of the Department of Health and Human Services
fought for this,” he said.

Most of the investment for electronic health records and
networks for sharing information will now have to come from
private industry, probably billions of dollars over the
next several years.

The $50 million requested for Dr. Brailer’s office was to
have been used to provide seed money for health information
demonstration projects that would encourage the industry to
agree on technology standards, hasten investment by private
companies and accelerate the adoption of modern information
technology by doctors and hospitals.